Sporting events have become popular with television audiences as the program provides superior coverage of the event. This is particularly true in sporting events such as motor racing where a spectator at the event is only able to glimpse a small part of the action. Television networks utilise a plurality of cameras at such events in an attempt to provide the best coverage for viewers, including car mounted, aerial, and tripod mounted and mobile cameras.
Typically a human operator is required to manually operate each camera.
Usually, these cameras are deliberately placed at particular locations around a race course in order to capture the best footage of the race. One of the difficulties with currently available systems is that the human operator may both miss action and incorrectly operate the camera. Furthermore, the cost associated with having to employ human operators for most cameras is financially restrictive.
Another use for cameras at sporting events is to capture images of the sporting contest for later viewing. This is particularly important in such sporting events as horse racing when protests are lodged after the race for reasons such as interference. In horse racing stewards study video replays from vantage points around the course to gauge if interference between the race participants has occurred. For this reason cameras referred to as “stewards cameras” are placed at particular locations around the race course to capture footage of the sporting event.
Sporting events such as thoroughbred, harness, greyhound and motor racing all have highly repetitive and formula driven broadcasts, which have simple requirements for the camera operator's framing. In the case of thoroughbred racing there are multiple camera operators employed although they are used only a fraction of the time while they are on site.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a method and apparatus of camera control that overcomes at least some of the aforementioned problems or provides the public with a useful alternative. It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide for a method and apparatus of camera control that provides a labour saving solution.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide for a method and apparatus of camera control that enhances accuracy and quality of the captured image.